FARGO — For a few hours last Thursday morning, 1,517 separate National Weather Service areas, most made up of counties, were under a dense fog warning. This is a National Weather Service record. Fog was prevalent from North Dakota south to the Rio Grande River, and from the central high plains to the Appalachians.
The fog came in different forms. There was advection fog from moist air flowing north off the Gulf of Mexico into cooler air. Across the Midwest, most of the fog was caused by moderate airflow through melting snow cover. All this over a large area of relatively humid and stagnant air. It should be noted that this record does not mean that fog was not widespread before. The size of National Weather Service areas and even forecasting standards have changed over time.
John Wheeler is WDAY's chief meteorologist, a position he has held since May 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South, in Louisiana and Alabama, and cites his family's move to the Midwest as important for developing his fascination with weather and climate. Wheeler lived in Wisconsin and Iowa as a teenager. He attended Iowa State University and earned a bachelor's degree in meteorology in 1984. Wheeler worked for about a year at WOI-TV in central Iowa before moving to Fargo and WDAY.
